Antonio Brown is an unrestricted free agent in the NFL. He had been a member of the National Football League (NFL) for the previous 12 years. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers but eventually transferred to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
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Antonio Brown Early Years
In July 1988, Antonio Brown was born in Miami, Florida. He attended Miami Norland High School and was a wide receiver and punt returner. Brown attended Central Michigan University, where he was a two-time First-Team All-American and MAC Special Teams Player of the Year.
Antonio Brown Career
Brown was picked by the Pittsburgh Steelers as the No. 1 pick in the 2010 NFL Draft and has spent his whole career with the team. He won the AFC Championship in 2010 and is a four-time Pro Bowl selection and two-time First-Team All-Pro. Brown was selected AFC Offensive Co-Player of the Year in 2014 and led the NFL in receiving yards.
In 2014 and 2015, he led the NFL in receptions and the AFC in receiving touchdowns. Brown is the first player in NFL history to have 1,000 yards returning and receiving in a single season, as well as the first person in NFL history to have at least five catches and 50 receiving yards in 35 consecutive games.
He is also the first NFL player to have at least 125 receptions in consecutive seasons. He is also one of two players, along with Calvin Johnson, to reach 5,000 receiving yards in three years. From 2010 through 2018, Antonio was a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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In 2019, he temporarily played with the Oakland Raiders. His time with the Raiders ended before the season began, and he was fined $215,000 for altercations with the team’s general manager. On September 9, the day after he was released by the Raiders, he signed a one-year contract with the New England Patriots.
He worked out with the Patriots and was scheduled to participate in Week 2 of the NFL. Antonio was released by the Patriots on September 20 due to sexual assault charges. Antonio said that he would retire from the NFL in the 2020 offseason. Due to infractions of the league’s personal conduct code, he was ultimately suspended for the first eight weeks of the 2020 NFL season.
Antonio signed a one-year contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in October 2020. Former New England Patriots teammate Tom Brady, who had recently joined the Buccaneers, was supposedly important in getting Antonio the job.
Bruce Arians, the coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, previously coached Antonio in Pittsburgh. On February 7, 2021, the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl. In the middle of the third quarter of Week 17 of the 2021 season, Antonio removed his jersey, shoulder pads, and shirt and ran off the field. He was later released from the team.
Antonio Brown Contracts And Disputes
Antonio and the Steelers agreed to a three-year, $1.288 million contract in June 2010 after being picked. They agreed to a five-year, $42.5 million deal in July 2012. Antonio Brown agreed to a four-year, $68 million contract extension with the Steelers in February 2017, with an average annual salary of $17 million.
That was enough to make him the highest-paid wide receiver in NFL history until Odell Beckham Jr. inked a one-year deal worth $19 million starting in 2018. In March 2019, he was traded to the Oakland Raiders for a restructured three-year, $50 million contract. If everything had gone according to plan, Antonio should have received a $30 million signing bonus.
Antonio had many verbal spats with the Oakland Raiders’ management in August and September 2019. On September 7, the Raiders announced the release of Brown and the cancellation of his $30 million signing bonus. Later that day, Antonio stated that he had agreed to a one-year, $15 million contract with the Patriots, none of which was guaranteed.
So, if he got hurt after just one game, he would have made a huge mistake. Was this the intention all along? Was this Antonio’s ruse to move off a bad club and onto what could be Tom Brady’s final season in the NFL? Only time will tell.
Antonio Brown’s Net Worth & Salary
Antonio Brown is a $20 million net-worth American professional football player. As of this writing, Antonio had $77 million in NFL contracts, though that figure includes money he did not receive due to a number of controversies and personal conduct fines.